Server setup advice / Plex headless on Ubuntu server

4Qman · 15 Jan 2017 at 19:02

Hi, has anyone got any experience running plex headless (no gui) on Ubuntu server. Or point me in best method to setup MY DELL T20 server.

Ubuntu server currently the plan, using as a nas, printer connections etc.

But I'm unsure about getting plex on it, anyone run a virtual machine on Ubuntu server? .. KVM

Or do I get another system and use as a plex machine, using the Dell server purely as NAS?

neodude · 15 Jan 2017 at 19:47

I know Ubuntu is free but check out UnRaid. As well as a NAS supporting dual parity protected arrays it would allow you to run Plex Server as a docker as well as a load of other apps like Couch Potato, Crashplan, Torrents etc. It is also a perfect VM host. I really can't recommend it enough.

stewski · 15 Jan 2017 at 19:52

Agree rolling your own can be fun but there are many good distros for nas/plex.
I use the debian based openmediavault an highly recommend it.

4Qman · 15 Jan 2017 at 20:25

Thanks guys,

My main goal is to have plex server, along with the printers connected to it, SSH connection to configuration when away working and a file server (so I can cancel dropbox)

Looking at both them recommendations now...

leigh_boy · 15 Jan 2017 at 21:06

ubuntu server is easy i have the setup you are saying you want
install ubuntu, with ssh and samba
then download the plex distro and install it.
use a local pc to go to its ip address with port 3200 i think and connect it your plex account.
create your samba shares for windows ... job done

decto · 15 Jan 2017 at 21:15

I'm looking at the same thing.

I've installed Xenserver on the T20 (Xeon, 16GB) so plan to run services virtually in separate instances.

This is an older guide for plex I was looking at:
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/26727/how-to-plex-media-server-on-ubuntu
Seems quite straight forward.

Was also going to test out debian server as ubuntu is based on debian so it's effective a source distribution.

Xen is an additional complication, however it means my installs will be hardware agnostic. I can back up the VM onto a disk for rapid recovery ... I don't like repeating work!

memyselfandi · 15 Jan 2017 at 21:52

Plex doesn't have a GUI just a web interface so running it on a headless server is trivial as you connect to it from a web browser on another system to configure anyway.

Personally I run a couple of instances on Ubuntu under VMWare (one for testing new releases before applying them to my main instance as I have been burnt by buggy updates before). Setting it up was as simple as downloading and installing the deb package. The main gotcha being to make sure you have sufficient space for the database in /var/lib/plexmediaserver (for big collections this can grow very large). Once installed and started then connect to the system on ipaddress:32400/web/index.html and configure how you want it.

edit, an interesting one is to run Plex under Docker ... had a play with that the other day but wouldn't recommend doing it that way yet

Steveocee · 16 Jan 2017 at 04:43

I run the exact setup you are asking about OP.

Ubuntu Server running on a "home brew" server with Ubuntu 16.04 and running Plex.

It really is incredibly easy to do once Ubuntu is installed.
SSH into the server and navigate your way to something harmless (/home usually good), use WGET command to download the latest version of Plex from the link for Ubuntu installs on their website and let it do the rest.

ov_sjo · 16 Jan 2017 at 07:54

I run Plex on a T20. OS is FreeBSD 10.3. Works great.

Tried running it as a VM under VirtualBox and performance was dire.

4Qman · 16 Jan 2017 at 08:16

Thanks for everyone's input.

I want to learn Ubuntu server so I'm more Inclined to go that route. Already I have, SSH, vpn, printers etc working nice on it.

Is it possible to run a Virtual machine on Ubuntu server (windows)? Anyone done with with KVM?

Can I store the database of the plex media on a seperate hard drive?

Deleted member 138126 · 16 Jan 2017 at 10:52

This is what I came up with for my Plex VM.

Wherever you see <something>, you don't actually include the <> symbols. e.g. password=Password01

//<server>/Movies$ and //<server>/TV$ is where my stuff is stored. Adjust yours accordingly.

Code:

#Install Ubuntu
#User name: administrator

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

# Reboot

cd ~
wget [url]http://shell.ninthgate.se/packages/shell.ninthgate.se.gpg.key[/url]
sudo apt-key add shell.ninthgate.se.gpg.key

echo 'deb [url]http://shell.ninthgate.se/packages/debian[/url] jessie main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/plex.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install plexmediaserver -y

sudo apt-get install cifs-utils -y
nano ~/.smbcredentials
username=<username for accessing media shares>
password=<password for accessing media shares>
#Save the file, exit nano

chmod 600 ~/.smbcredentials

sudo nano /etc/fstab
//<server>/Movies$ /media/Movies cifs credentials=/home/administrator/.smbcredentials,iocharset=utf8,sec=ntlm 0 0
//<server>/TV$ /media/TV cifs credentials=/home/administrator/.smbcredentials,iocharset=utf8,sec=ntlm 0 0
#Save the file, exit nano

sudo mkdir /media/Movies
sudo mkdir /media/TV

sudo mount -a
# If there are no errors, you should test how it works after a reboot. Your remote shares should mount automatically

Little_Crow · 16 Jan 2017 at 10:55

I run Ubuntu Server with Plex on a Microserver in much the same way as memyselfandi - I'd definitely recommend it, but you'd have to test it if you're going to use it as a print server with directly attached printers.

I installed both Ubuntu Server and Desktop. I used Desktop to figure out what to do with the benefit of a GUI, then recreated it via the CLI on Server - with liberal use of snapshots before you do anything 'risky' it can be an excellent learning experience.

Buffalo2102 · 16 Jan 2017 at 22:07

I can recommend Proxmox.

On my T20 I run Proxmox and have a number of VM's (all headless) -

web and mail server
plex and tvheadend
sab/sonarr/couchpotato server
pi-hole
etc.

Proxmox is based on a small debian distro so it's easy to add samba and other things to it and share storage from the hypervisor. The storage is then available for all of the VM's to use.

I've been running Plex in a vm for a few years now but have just changed over to Serviio as the new version has some really good improvements in it and I'm trying them out. I can always spin Plex back up if it doesnt work out...

Ricimer · 16 Jan 2017 at 22:20

I'm using Ubuntu on my Microserver, still in testing, but mostly working now

I have zfs on the host, and I'm running samba, subsonic and plex in separate lxd containers, lighter than VMs and as they are all Ubuntu anyway, it gives me a little separation.

4Qman · 16 Jan 2017 at 22:37

Rotor, thanks for the code. I'll try it.

Everyone else, great replies and I'm very grateful. Lots of info which I'm sure will help myself and many others.

Has anyone run a VM of Windows on Ubuntu server, is it Possible.

stewski · 16 Jan 2017 at 22:45

Various hypervisors will run most flavours of windows afaik. However if you are after gpu support and other passthru hardware Ive read a few guides which lead me to believe it is very dependant on matched hw/sw combos. Anyone with experience of this, share away as Im interestead in the current state of the art too.

neodude · 17 Jan 2017 at 07:57

I'm typing this on my main Windows VM at the moment. It has a GTX1070 and a USB3 card passed through to it and works flawlessly, just like a bare metal machine. It plays all the games I throw at it perfectly and it handles Lightroom and Photoshop no problem. I also have VMs of OSX and Ubuntu. As stated before, I'm running UnRaid though

stewski · 17 Jan 2017 at 08:16

neodude said:
I'm typing this on my main Windows VM at the moment. It has a GTX1070 and a USB3 card passed through to it and works flawlessly, just like a bare metal machine. It plays all the games I throw at it perfectly and it handles Lightroom and Photoshop no problem. I also have VMs of OSX and Ubuntu. As stated before, I'm running UnRaid though

Excellent which hypervisor offers the passthru support?

neodude · 17 Jan 2017 at 09:25

I believe the hypervisor provided in UnRaid is KVM.

4Qman · 17 Jan 2017 at 13:42

Wow that's impressive.

Server setup advice / Plex headless on Ubuntu server

Deleted member 138126

Deleted member 138126